


"But you are the life I needed all along"

by Macaron



Category: Cobra Kai (Web Series)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Falling In Love, Happy Ending, Idiots in Love, M/M, Post-Season/Series 02, Romance, bonsai!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:21:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27046411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Macaron/pseuds/Macaron
Summary: "No one scares me so much even now." And it's true. But it's not just this. No one has ever excited, thrilled, annoyed, pushed him to the limit so much. There are people who bring out the worst part of you, there are people who bring out the best part of you. Johnny Lawrence brings out his extremes and for a person so desperate for a balance it's scary. It's exciting. "Set after season two. Daniel joins Johnny on the beach and gives him a new bonsai. And they talk.
Relationships: Daniel LaRusso/Johnny Lawrence
Comments: 16
Kudos: 90





	"But you are the life I needed all along"

He should say something. He wants to. When he enters in that damn elevator and of course, of course, there's Johnny Lawrence (almost like he's waiting for him, reminding him he can't run away. You can't get out of your teenage years alive) a part of Daniel wants to scream. To Johnny mostly. For not calling him when Robby showed up at his house and leaving him wondering where his daughter was for hours (for a few minutes actually but Daniel isn't ready to be rational yet).To have reopened the Cobra Kai. To have let Kreese come back in their lives. To have teach all the Cobra Kai no mercy shit to the kids after let Daniel think that he would have been different (because Daniel might not have said anything but he really believed it). To have let this go to his head. To have let Daniel be like this again, to have not let Daniel move on from all of this. _It's all your fault. I haven't done anything wrong._ It wasn't me who threw Ali's radio on the sand that night, it wasn't me who started all of this. He wants to scream.To Johnny mostly. To himself for the rest of it. For not protecting his children. For not having been for anyone what the mr. Miyaji had been for him. For not listening to Amanda. For listening to her but not caring about it. For still being angry (for what, Daniel?) For not moving on. For letting Johnny go to his head. He should say something. _It wasn't all your fault. I know you tried to help those kids._ I know what Kreese did to you. I know you just wanted to be on your son's side and that is the reason you didn't call me. I'm sorry for what happened to Miguel, he is strong, he'll be okay. The doors open. He leaves. He doesn't say anything.

You haven't even tried. Amanda tells him this as he is putting his things in boxes a couple of weeks after the accident at school. They haven't talked about divorce yet, they won't be talking about it for months, not out loud, not to the kids to whom they just tell lies not to make them worry (is that parenting?), but Daniel knows when Amanda will say that word he will have no right to be surprised or outraged. Not after everything he could have done and didn't do. Not when he let their wedding go on without caring, without an effort beyond flowers on Valentine's Day, a compliment on her dress, a kiss in the morning when you wake up. Ha puts a fake plastic bonsai in the boxes with his books. For a man who fought so hard for his dojo, who wasn't able to let go a stupid karate rivalry from over thirty years ago you let go your marriage so easily. You havent' even tried. Maybe this should have made me understand something before, she says.

When she'll say the word, when she'll ask for the divorce, he won't make a shocked face, he'll let her decide the terms and have what she wants (she won't ask for anything more than what's right, Daniel trusts her judgment more than himself). She's right, he didn't even try.

She was out of his league since the beginning anyway.

_Why is he bringing a stupid fake plastic bonsai into his new home?_

It's not even his fake plastic bonsai, obviously. Johnny Lawrence gave it to him. Obviously. Which is why Daniel brought it to his new home (the bonsai. Not Johnny. He didn't want Johnny in his life, let alone his house. And he can pretend it's not a lie for at least five minutes when he says this) .

It happened after Daniel tried to keep Cobra Kai out of the tournament. After his outburst that didn't help because the Cobra kai was instead admitted to the tournament.

He didn't expect to see Johnny at his workplace. He certainly didn't want to see him gloating for beating him (but is it really a race? Why does it all have to be a fight? Why can't you let go?), To hear him say about how his students were going to win the tournament or maybe hear him babbling about how they would do it fairly (The Cobra Kai, fair!) and not with an illegal kick like Daniel (he told me "You're all right, LaRusso" later, why is it now an illegal kick?) But instead Johnny is there, the metallica shirt, the face of someone who hasn't slept in a decent bed in the last few weeks. He looks tired not gloating. Daniel would gloat. Daniel would go to his dojo to gloat if it happened to him. He is not all balance and mercy after all.

Johnny looks tired but he is here and Daniel realizes that is the first time since the high school that Johnny is looking for him. Maybe this means something, maybe this means possibilities. Johnny gives him a fake plastic bonsai, a cheap one that you would give to a old neighbor not even one of the fancy ones perfect for your mother in law, and he says that this is what Daniel deserves. A cheap fake bonsai. Okay he doesn't say exactly like this. He says "If you think that people can't change, can't grow maybe this is the only bonsai you should keep. A plastic one." and "I'm not like this." That is basically the same thing anyway. But in the end aren't bonsai just plants that are not allowed to grow? You take a tree, you cut it up, you cut its roots, and you let it grow only as much as you want inside a small vase. Mr. Miyagi had taken a bonsai out of his pot and let it grow, when did Daniel start doing the opposite? When did he start killing everything he loves?

He doesn't throw the plastic bonsai in the trash like Johnny did his (yes he found the remains in front of the dealership), but he never managed to throw away anything of Johnny Lawrence.

_Maybe I'm the one who doesn't know how to grow. Maybe I'm the one who doesn't know how to move on when it's about you._

Daniel finds him at the beach. He is several weeks later than the conversation they should have had in the elevator. He is thirty years late compared to all those who have not had.

Johnny looks old for the first time in his life. And young and handsome as he always does. Daniel doesn't feel old when he is with him. He doesn't feel like he is sixteen either. He feels himself and most of the time it's something that he doesn't like at all.

He says "I'm sorry" and because Johnny looks like someone is waiting for a punch or a shitty remark he adds "For Miguel. Sam said that he is getting better but it's a long road." and again. "I'm sorry."

Johnny doesn't say anything and then. "I fucked up."

And Daniel would love to say something right, something to make him feel better.

"When you don't?" Something totally different from this.

"Are you here to lecture me? To gloat?".

No. He doesn't know why he is here, he doesn't know why he wasn't here before. "No." and "I fucked up too."

"Ha!"

"Sam said that the accident between Robby and Miguel" Daniel deliberately chooses the word accident, because if anyone has messed things up without doing it on purpose it's the kids " happened because Robby thought that Miguel had taken advantage of her in a moment of weakness when she was drunk. "

"Miguel would never have done that-" Johnny tries to interrupt him.

"No no, I know. Robby tried to protect her, to defend her honor in some way. You know the things you do at that age when you like someone. I did the same if I remember correctly on a beach with a radio" He laughs. "But Sam told me she didn't need to be defended, she was the one wrong and he didn't ask her anything. She said no one asked her anything, no one listened to her. That all this happened because they don't listen to each other. I wondered how many things we made happen because we didn't listen to each other . "

"I'm listening, man."

_What if I don't know what to say now? What if I never knew what to say?_

"I brought you something." Daniel takes a bonsai out of his backpack. "Because the first one I gave you fell on your way out of the dealership." He smiles.

"It's not a plastic one."

"You know we stopped giving bonsai to customers? Nobody cared much anyway, they prefer the discount or the car mats as a gift."

"So?"

"It's one of mine, a juniper. Do you see that branch where there is still the copper wire and the leaves look like pine needles? When I adopted it, the whole bonsai had needle leaves because it was in pain and that branch was rotting. The juniper when it suffers changes its leaves, they stop being flaky and become needle-like and sometimes it can take years to recover and sometimes it is almost impossible to notice the improvements. "

"Is this a bonsai lesson or are you going to get somewhere, LaRusso?"

For god's sake he can't stand him. "I mean it's not plastic. And it's growing, it's starting to have flaky leaves again. You just have to notice and wait, give it time. It's not standing still, it's changing. I'm sorry I didn't notice it." And "It wasn't your fault with the kids. You didn't screw everything up."

Johnny says nothing and then. "There really isn't a chance I won't kill this thing, LaRusso. I'm not going to take the scissors and shred it like a pussy."

"I'll give you my address" because there is a new address to go to. "And I'll take care of the pruning and those stuff."

"It's not as bad as the ones you had in the store, it looks strong."

"Robby chose it when he was at my dojo. He took care of it all by himself."

And Johnny smiles.

"New home, mh?"

The temperature is starting to drop, Daniel doesn't know exactly how long they stayed there on the beach, not talking, with a bonsai between them.

"Mh. She kicked me out. "

"Fuck. I'm sorry, man. You two looked fine that night at the Mexican dinner, all heart eyes, one dessert with two forks and shit like that."

"Is this really your idea of a marriage? A shared dessert? You really stayed stuck when you were sixteen."

"Fuck you. I'm not the married one."

"I'm not the married one too. Almost. " He sighs. "I don't know, Johnny maybe we were just good sellers. Cars, marriages, karate lessons."

"You were awful to sell karate lessons."

Daniel ignores him and continues "It's not that Amanda wasn't amazing because she is, it's just that after high school I didn't allow myself to love someone like that. You know when you don't know if you would like to be with someone or be that person, when you lose yourself in someone. I don't know, maybe those are the kind of feelings you can only have at sixteen but I'm sure I forced myself not to love anyone like that anymore. It scared me too much. "

Part of Daniel expects Johnny to make fun of him for this, to call him a pussy, to taunt him for being corny. Johnny just says

"Nobody?"

"None until Sam. But she's easy, she's never scared me because she's like me. Anthony is like Amanda but Sam is my daughter at 100%."

"Anthony isn't like Amanda." Johnny looks almost scandalized. He is kinda cute.

"Maybe apparently because he is a child but he has the same practical sense. He is concrete, he is smart, he is the kind type of person who always lands on his feet. Amanda has the same confidence. I've never had it, I've always needed someone to show me the way like Mr. Miyagi. Sam is like me, she is a hothead, she has a big heart but she is stubborn, she falls constantly while trying to find a balance . "

"Sam is much more beautiful than you."

"Of course she is."

" But she doesn't have your puppy eyes. Chicks always loved them in high school."

"C'mon are you the one who talk, Lawrence? You were blond and with big blue eyes and the bike! I was the skinny new kid and I looked like I was twelve. "

"Now you are just fishing for compliments."

"Maybe. Is it working?"

"No. Maybe."

They remain silent for a few minutes. "So no one after Ali?"

"I wasn't talking about Ali. I was talking about you." And when he says it he wonders if part of him has not absorbed the philosophy of the Cobra kai. What did he say "I won't be the one to strike first?"

"What?"

"You were the one fixated with Ali, not me. She was great and i liked her a lot but everything I did was about you. I haven't even added her on facebook but I couldn't stay away from your stupid Cobra kai."

"I don't have the facebook."

Daniel laughs. "I know I looked for you. And it's called facebook not the facebook, idiot."

"Every time I turned on the television there was your stupid dealership commercial, god I hated it so much." and then "Everything I did was about you for me too." and then "No one has ever scared me so much."

"No one scares me so much even now." And it's true. But it's not just this. No one has ever excited, thrilled, annoyed, pushed him to the limit so much. There are people who bring out the worst part of you, there are people who bring out the best part of you. Johnny Lawrence brings out his extremes and for a person so desperate for a balance it's scary. It's exciting.

He feels Johnny's fingers on his knee. That knee.

"Does it still hurt you?" Daniel wonders if that's his way to apologize thirty years late. He does not care.

"It hurt like hell over the next few weeks, now I only notice it on windy days because it creaks slightly. Maybe I'm just getting old."

"You are already old, LaRusso." Johnny continues to caress his knee, Daniel feels like he's sixteen and has his first crush. That is what he is.

"Should I do the same with the spot where I hit you?"

"Maybe you should."

Maybe he should.

**Author's Note:**

> Monica (Hotaru_Tomoe that I love deeply) suggested this prompt where Johnny gives Daniel a fake plastic bonsai as he doesn't believe people can change and this happened.  
> The bit about the juniper bonsai is true and I know because I killed one years ago and I'm still sad about it.  
> As always, English is not my first language and I write it as Johnny uses the internet.  
> The title is from Futile Device. I wanted a song about bonsai but apparently they are all in Italian and not particularly good.


End file.
